He Likes Boys//It (2017)

t h r e e

Chapter Three:

The next morning Hom woke up feeling sore from the fight. He struggled to drag himself out of bed, but feared the massive pile of homework he would have waiting for him at his desk if he missed a day of school.

The scent of his mother's pancakes wafted in through the vents, and a half asleep Hom stumbled through the hallways of his home over to the kitchen, plopping himself down on a stool by the counter. His mom placed a plate of pancakes down in front of him.

"Thanks." Hom mumbled, still half asleep. His mother ruffled his hair playfully.

"Eat up quickly, you're about to be late for school." She warned. Hom typically walked to school, meaning he always had the option to run rather than walk, but feeling sore, he would prefer not to.

Hom scarfed down his pancakes in roughly only five minutes, then ran off to his room to get dressed. Hom choose the first pair of clothes he stumbled upon in his messy room. He threw off his pyjamas, leaving them in the ever growing pile of junk on Hom's floor, and threw on the tatty shirt, first making sure it didn't smell. Hom grabbed a pair of jeans, stepping over mountains of junk to get to his closet, before throwing a belt around his waist.

Hom walked out of the house, shoving the brown paper bagged lunch his mom packed him into his backpack before leaving. His back was sore just carrying the bag.

"Hey." A girl with brown hair tied back in a messy brown pony tail walked up on the side walk beside him.

"Hey..?" Hom replied nervously.

The girl gestured to his bruised arm. "What happened?"

"Bowers happened." Hom replied simply, looking down at the ground as he spoke. She was beautiful. He didn't have the courage to meet her eyes.

"Oh. Yeah he's a total dickwad. He picks on basically my and my gang too, but we protect each other." She replies proudly, think of how amazing being part of the Losers Club was. "You can hang out with us if you want."

"Really?" Hom's eyes widened.

"Yeah. You seem pretty cool." Beverly smiled at him. He was a bit more on the nerdy looking side, but other than that she found him quite attractive. He was shyer than most guys she'd met, but she supposed that made him cute.

"My name's Hom." He held out his hand to shake.

"Beverly." She replied. "My house is just over there." She pointed. She grabbed Hom's hand and gave it a hard shake.

They shook on it. Beverly had a feeling they would grow to be good friends.

They walked alongside each other on the way to school. The school bell clanged with a loud banging sound that shook through Hom's body. He'd been daydreaming as he walked. The bell woke him, and he ran all the way there, not wanting to risk being late for class.

"Sorry I'm late." He apologized to the teacher as he walked into class.

"It's alright. Just have a seat Hom." Mrs Jenny said politely.

Hom took the last seat at the back of the class, feeling Henry's eyes staring at him as he tried to focus on his school work. He was planning on picking on Hom again. He was planning on making fun of him and calling him names and all sorts of other things.

Then he remembered Beverly and the Losers Club. Then he remembered if he hung out with them they might be able to save him, at least momentarily from some of Henry's torment.

Hom patiently waited, but the clocked ticked on forever. All he wanted to do was hang out with Beverly Marsh, but as each second went by it only felt like an eternity. As though he would be doomed to spend the rest of his life in the classroom.

Finally the bell rang. And Henry Bowers jumped up. Hom lingered behind in the classroom, knowing that if he went outside he'd have to face Henry's torment.

He stepped outside onto the wet grass, keeping his head down and not looking at them. He knew Henry Bowers and his gang were waiting for him, but he was desperate to get home and visit Beverly Marsh's house.

"Hey! It's our little buddy Hommy!" He heard footsteps, but kept his head down. Hom trembled where he stood, remembering the last time they beat him up.

"Awww...what's wrong? Hommy want his Mommy?" Henry Bowers teased in a baby voice. The others laughed. He smiled, feeling like a king. Henry Bowers was royalty in this school. He had everything he could ever want or need. He could do whatever he felt like and no one would care. Best of all, he had his good but dumb student act all together, pretending that he wasn't a total fuckwad and kissing up to teachers when he was really nothing more than a bully.

"Hey!" Henry shout at Hom, giving him a hard shove. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, boy!" He gave Hom a second shove.

"What are you doing lurking around school at this late hour?" Henry stared at him. "I think we'd better teach our little bro a lesson!" His friends laughed. Henry pulled out his precious knife out of his back pocket.

"Don't worry Hommy. We're just gonna give you a good scare." Henry smiled darkly down at him. Then he laughed. He laughed until he had no more breath or voice left to laugh with. He laughed his lungs out, until they were too worn down to breath. He laughed until his throat ached and his belly hurt.

Then he beat Hom, pushing him down to the ground and having his friends hold him down while he struggled. He leaned down over Hom, spitting in his face.

"What's wrong Hommy? I'm just going to put a little scar on your face. A nice little makeover to make your real pretty."

Then Henry leaned down, and started carving a small line down the side of his cheek.